


体温

by whimsicott



Category: EXO (Band), SHINee
Genre: Fic Exchange, M/M, mermaid!au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-26
Updated: 2015-03-26
Packaged: 2018-03-19 18:03:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3619206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whimsicott/pseuds/whimsicott
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jongin had been content with his solitary life until a stranger named Taemin took him home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	体温

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written as a pinch-hitter for the Taekai fic challenge earlier this year. Thank you very much mods for organising a successful and fun first round, my prompter aquathenmarine for this prompt and by beta Mi for putting up with beta-ing for me despite me changing literally everything last minute and finishing it on the dot. ;; I'm sorry for being so troublesome to beta for. Written with [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4qWC9jr8nU) on non-stop loop.

The bathtub was cramped, but it almost didn't matter at the moment. There was just about enough room for the two of them, and Jongin actually found it rather nice to have Taemin's warm skin pressing close against his own at the moment. Jongin never minded the cold - he had been pretty familiar with it in the water, after all - but warmth: warmth was a sensation still novel to him, and he wanted more and more of it.

Taemin was warm. Taemin's body and Taemin's kisses, each and every bit of it spelled the word clearer than the human books he had been left with when he was alone.

His tail involuntarily jerked up, and now that, too, was pressing closer to Taemin's body. Even his tail, he thought, covered in scales, felt warm against Taemin. The thought alone embarrassed him. A tail felt strange on him suddenly, like it was all new to him even if he's had it much longer than legs.

Legs felt better, he decided.

Even if they weren't truly meant for him.

 

 

\------ 体温  
body temperature

 

 

Despite the rumbling surface, it was quiet where he was, and his knowledge that there was a storm above the water was like a make-believe story. Still, he knew from the movements of the sea creatures not to go near the surface now.

Jongin knew the sea well. Not that it was anything to brag about when one was born under the water.

In fact, with how little attention he paid to the teachings of the elders when he was a child, he possibly knew less about the sea than the average merboy. That never bothered him. He knew enough to survive, when there were storms and how to avoid nets, to not swim too deep and to be careful of certain areas that were colder or more dangerous.

And to Jongin, that was all he needed to know about the sea. He didn't see what was so important about learning the names of different kinds of fish and anemones and whatever else when you could sort it into two simple categories: will kill you or won't kill you.

It was probably this attitude that led him devoid of the company of his fellow merpeople, when he thought about it.

He still didn't mind.

He was alright with this, really.

He was alright with his little cave of human treasures, both looted and stolen.

 

 

Not too long after the storm, Jongin decided to head out of his cave.

He checked his supplies of food he hid between rocks and human contraptions. To be perfectly sure, he checked the human-made metal box he kept his food in, locking them away from others. He had enough at the moment, but it wouldn't hurt to resupply.

Jongin had taken the box from one of the first human ships he ever looted. The wooden vessels had sunk after a storm, not unlike the one that just occurred, and Jongin found himself drawn to investigate. He was hungry and alone and very, very curious.

The result had been fruitful. Human tools turned out to be rather good for foraging and hunting and keeping himself busy. There was human food, too, oddly textured things he realised he could eat anyway without feeling sick.

Thinking about it, it might not have been a good idea to put whatever he had found into his mouth. They could have killed him; but he didn’t care enough then, and it turned out well. And ever since then, Jongin had salvaged through human ships, finding it not only more interesting than hunting and foraging, but also more conducive. Food came easier to him since.

That was a long time ago, Jongin realised, and his cave now was filled with a variety of human trinkets, some he used for something or the other, some of which had no real use to him, or anyone else now, considering their previous owners were dead.

Jongin liked to imagine, though, that he knew their uses. And it was this that kept him collecting. There was something fun about it all, cataloguing human items and making up stories about how they were used and the people who used them.

Much more fun than his time with the other merpeople. Kept him sane all this time alone, he could even say.

To him, storms like this usually meant one thing in this area of the sea.

Possible shipwrecks.

And shipwrecks meant more food and trinkets.

He floated around his cave to get a few things he kept in a human-made wooden chest. A sack, first of all, light and ugly but functioned well. Human clothes, just in case - a dark coloured, thick upper body garment which he learnt recently was called a coat, adorned with an emblem of the human who used to own it, and a pair of what he quickly gathered to be called trousers. Neither were needed under water, but after having spent a little while on land, he knew would stand out if didn't have these. Even if they were torn in places and a wet mess on him, it was better than nothing.

He reached further into the box and took an amulet into his hand, holding it tightly in his palm.

 

 

The first thing Jongin did was check the beach. There was a small inlet near where he lived, surrounded by rugged rocks and not often frequented by humans, despite how near it was to a respectably busy port town. It was a rather dangerous side of the coast, he supposed, and the waves often carried various things to its surface.

Still, he checked from a distance first, scanning the area for the presence of a ship.

He smiled to himself when he noticed a small boat. That was new, he noted, and its size implied a fishing boat.

Perfect.

Fishing boats weren't the most exciting find. They were the most common, really, but they carried food within them, and Jongin's little cave shouldn't be taking in any more decorative trinkets, anyway. Not that his lack of space would stop him from collecting more the next time a cargo ship crashed.

Still, this was perfect for now.

As he approached the shore, he put the amulet around his neck. Instantly, his entire body felt heavier in the water.

He closed his eyes for a little bit. This entire sensation was strange. He didn't think he could ever get used to it.

 

As his tail disappeared and was replaced by legs, he felt it was just right for his feet to land on the rocks beneath the shallow water, the clothes he had taken with him held close to his chest.

Walking was a little hard the first time, but he was better at it now. Step by step now, he walked carefully in the water until he could feel the sand between his toes. He tossed the coat on first before slipping on the trousers.

The air was chilly today, and although the cold never affected Jongin much, his body involuntarily shivered.

The cold of land and air was always different from the cold of the sea.

He made his way towards the boat. There was nobody on board, not entirely unusual, considering how bodies might have been thrown out, anyway. He found himself walking towards the storage containers placed inside. The structure of these boats were always more or less the same; the contents, likewise.

Jongin moved without much of a care. There wasn't anyone when he came in, anyway, and legs were strange things he had to self-learn, so he tried to make it as uncomplicated as possible for himself.

He quickly found the things he needed. Nets and fish and bits of dried food he took a bite of and found he rather liked. Packed them into his his wet cloth sack that was a little heavier on land than it was in water.

He was reaching for a can on the upper shelf on tiptoes when he heard that voice for the first time:

"What are you doing?"

Startled, Jongin lost his balance and quickly found himself dragged down to the hard surface of the boat floor by gravity. He just about managed to see the face the voice was attached to as he knocked his head on a nearby box and lost his consciousness.

Fuck. Fuck legs and fuck land.

 

When Jongin regained consciousness, the first thing he noticed was how his tail was gone.

Legs still felt odd, he decided, as he felt their existence creeping up his nerves.

It was only when he adjusted to waking up with legs that he had time to adjust to everything else.

He had to adjust to how he awoke to air, even though he couldn't see the sky, and above him was a mess of dark brown wood and what seemed to be animal nests.

How he was lying in soft fabric textured-like things. When he took a glance around, he recognised the shape from his loot, but had never used it quite like this, if at all.

The air around him still smelled faintly like the salt of the sea, but also of something else. Something thick and alien that made his stomach stir uncomfortably.

"You're awake."

Jongin's body jerked up. His waist hurt from the movement, and it was then he realised his head was throbbing, too.

Still, he managed to make out the features of the man he assumed was responsible for both his fall and his current place in a human dwelling.

The man was of slight built. It wasn't as if Jongin himself was large, but he had a distinct feeling this man was smaller than he was. He had messy, shoulder-length brown hair tied loosely. It made the man look a little on the effeminate side, but it suited his features well.

Jongin said nothing. He waited for the man to say something other than the obvious. Human tongue wasn't hard, and being around sailors and ports often enough, Jongin was able to catch what they say. Theoretically, he was able to speak it, too.

Theoretically. So he still preferred if this man spoke first.

The man sighed instead.

"I'm Taemin," he said. "Now tell me your name."

"What?"

His first human word. A question.

"Is that why you haven't told me yours? Because I should tell you mine before I ask you and what not? Saved you from saying it. Now your turn."

Jongin reluctantly nodded. He supposed that might be a human custom. Not that he would know, really, but what other point of reference did he have except for this man called Taemin?

"I'm... I'm Jongin."

His own name sounded strange. His own voice sounded strange. He hadn't heard either in so very long.

Taemin didn't seem to notice as he smiled anyway.

"Nice to meet you, Jongin."

 

 

His name sounded strange on Taemin's tongue.

 

 

"Nice to meet you, Taemin," he imitated.

He imitated Taemin's smile, too.

 

 

Taemin talked a lot. He talked about how he was employed at the pub-and-inn as an all-round handyman, whatever that might mean, by the landlord named Kibum. He talked about the small village he was from, a fishing one along the coast Jongin had seen before but never regarded much of.

Jongin liked listening to Taemin talk, even though he didn't understand a lot of these human concepts that came so naturally to Taemin.

"So what’s your story?" Taemin asked. His cheeks were pink and he seemed a little embarrassed at how much he talked about himself.

Jongin wasn't sure how to answer.

He looked down to his food - soup, as Taemin called it - and wondered if he was to say he was a soup maker on a boat. Would Taemin believe him? Or, perhaps, soup making was a job for lords and it would be odd? He wasn't sure.

"Hmm, so were you looting the boat?"

This he could answer.

"Yes," he said.

"Wow, you're honest."

Jongin titled his head. "Is that bad?"

"Honest is good."

"Is looting boats bad?"

Taemin shrugged. "Guess so."

"Oh." Jongin blinked. He supposed that was part of human manners after all, not to loot boats. "Sorry."

"Why apologise to me?" Taemin laughed. "I was doing the same thing."

 

 

Jongin quite liked Taemin and how he rambled.

And Taemin rambled on to him for a while with a smile, so maybe Taemin quite liked him, too.

 

 

In the middle of the night, after Taemin slept, Jongin felt his chest burn. This was the longest he had been with legs, he realised. And the amulet around his neck, his stomach, his heart all pushed him to return.

His eyes blurred, his heart raced.

He turned to look at the sea out of the window.

He turned to look at Taemin sleeping on the couch across of him.

And he turned to the sea again.

He lifted himself out of the window and slowly walked back home.

 

 

His heart started beating normally again when he let himself drown. His eyesight cleared to the familiar sight under the water.

His amulet was in his hand, and he gripped it tighter than he ever did.

 

 

“I thought I’d find you here.”

He still remembered who that voiced belonged to. He turned back from the boat he was looting to see a face now familiar to him.

Taemin grinned.

“Hi, Jongin.”

Jongin smiled.

“Hi, Taemin.”

 

“Why did you leave last night?”

Jongin hesitated in answering. He had to come up with some sort of lie, or at least half a lie.

“I had something urgent to do,” he said, opting for half a truth.

“Do you have something urgent tonight?”

Jongin thought about it. He supposed he could go back into the water before tonight to return. That meant his time wouldn’t run out by nightfall.

He shook his head.

“Great.” Taemin grinned. “Come to the pub tonight, okay?”

The pub, Jongin remembered, was what Taemin called his dwelling. He had walked from there to the sea before, but he wasn’t sure about the other way around. After all, he was unconscious the first time.

“You don’t know the way, do you?”

Jongin shook his head for no--then noded for yes--then shook his head again for no. He wasn’t sure how humans would/should answer this.

“I’ll pick you up, then. Town centre?”

Jongin shifted. He didn’t know where that was, either.

“Here?” he asked quietly.

“Here?” Taemin asked back. “You’re weird, aren’t you?”

“Sorry.”

“I like you like this.” Taemin grinned. “See you here then. At six.”

 

 

Jongin waited for the loud bell to strike five times before coming out of the water. He left his clothes to dry under the scorching sun, hiding them behind some rocks and came back to them damp but appropriately dry enough before slipping them on.

He sat by the beach waiting for Taemin, who arrived a little past the time he heard the town bell strike six times.

They talked as Taemin led him through the city. Or rather, Taemin mostly talked, as he had much to fill the silence with, and Jongin mostly listened, as he liked to do.

This time, he concentrated on remembering the path to where Taemin lived, past rocks and plants and seemingly identical rows of human dwellings.

“What’s going on tonight?” Jongin asked when they arrived. There was a large crowd of human as they entered - surely not more than on a ship, Jongin thought, but in the cramped space of the pub, it surely felt like all the humans in town were here.

Taemin flashed him a satisfied grin.

“I’m going to dance.”

“And all these people are here to watch you?” Jongin asked, impressed. He hadn’t seen human dances before, but Taemin had to be good to draw in such a crowd.

“I wish, but no, they’re here to drink, mostly.”

“Oh.” Jongin nodded, although he wondered why humans had to go to a pub to drink at all.

Maybe it was a human custom he didn’t understand.

 

 

And he understood it less, because why would they be so focused on cups of liquid when the sea was right outside?

Why would they be focused on cups of liquid here, inside, when there was Taemin dancing and moving like no one and nothing had ever moved before?

 

 

“You’re beautiful,” Jongin said frankly afterwards.

But Taemin blushed and laughed and hit him playfully.

 

 

The shipwreck became their meeting place, although sometimes, they go to where Taemin lived instead.

Jongin preferred the shipwreck by a little bit, because it was closer by the sea, and it was easier to spend more time with Taemin that way.

Before he knew it, he was beginning to spend more time on his feet, and they began to feel comfortable to him.

When he returned to the water one night, he thought about how strange it was to have a tail instead.

And when he returned to his cave that day, he thought about how quiet it was there, although it had never bothered him before.

 

 

“Do you dance?” Taemin asked.

They were in Taemin’s room that night. It was raining outside, a soft drizzle that Jongin wouldn’t mind being under but Taemin did.

Jongin shook his head. It was a half-lie, because he did dance under water. He used to dance all day, even, and still do sometimes, even though no one was watching anymore. But dancing with legs should be completely different, and he wasn’t even sure if he could walk properly yet, never mind dance.

“Funny, you have the body for it. And the movements.” Taemin shrugged. “That’s why I took interest in you. Why haven’t I heard of another dancer in town? We’re a rarity here you know. There’s nothing here for a dancer, not really.”

There’s you, Jongin thought, but he smiled instead knowing what he thought would be embarrassing to truly admit.

“Do you want to dance with me?” Taemin asked.

Jongin hesitated, but he nodded in the end, because that was the entire truth of the matter.

 

 

He took Taemin’s hand and let him lead, but it turned out dancing wasn’t something unnatural to him, even with legs instead of a tail and humming as their music.

“You’re good,” Taemin said softly. Jongin realised their bodies had drawn close.

And their breath felt like it was one.

A second later, as Taemin leaned in, or Jongin leaned in, or both of them did, their breath really became one when their lips met and the air between them ceased to exist.

 

 

“I kind of liked that.” Taemin smiled.

“I kind of liked that, too,” Jongin imitated.

But he meant it. Taemin just expressed it best.

 

 

“I heard you’ve been spending more time on land.”

Jongin hadn’t seen another merperson in years, but when he saw a figure sitting among his belongings when he returned that night, he wasn’t surprised to see Sehun.

Sehun didn’t look much different from the last time Jongin saw him. Still pretty and pale skinned and with scales the colour of a rainbow. It had only been a few years, after all, and merpeople didn’t age at the same pace humans did.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you.”

Sehun scowled. “Nothing good comes from associating with humans. You know that, right?”

“Our mother didn’t agree,” Jongin replied. His grip on his amulet tightened, as if to assure himself he was right. Their mother wouldn’t have given him something like this if she wasn’t.

But still, his voice was soft and he found it hard to meet Sehun’s eyes.

“Mother spoiled you too much,” Sehun pointed out angrily. “That’s why you’re childish and selfish to the core.”

Jongin didn’t argue with that.

Sehun let the silence sit between them for a while before continuing.

“Jongin, come home.” His tone turned quiet and soft, anger seemingly fading into the blue between them. “I miss you.”

Jongin smiled, the same smile Taemin had, he noticed, when he saw it from the mirror behind Sehun.

But again, he said nothing.

 

 

“So you like me weird?” he asked Taemin the next time they met.

Taemin kissed him as if the answer should have been obvious.

 

 

The funny thing about storms was it brought the sea to the land, and although when they met it had been sunny and hot just like how land was supposed to be, storms made it wet and cold, like how the sea was supposed to be.

Taemin took Jongin running down the streets and past the rows of houses to the pub. They entered through a side door that led to the attic room Taemin had and Jongin was familiar with.

“You should get changed,” Taemin said as he took off his own shirt. “You’ll catch a flu otherwise.”

Jongin nodded, opting to not argue and risk saying he spent most of his time wet and cold, anyway. He took off the white shirt he had stolen off another ship a long time ago.

“Even the rain here stinks of the sea.” Taemin laughed.

“You don’t like the sea?”

“No,” Taemin said. “Alright, fine. I guess it’s okay. but I’ve been by the sea my whole life. I want to see other things.” He looked down and smile shyly as he continued on. “That’s why I’m in town.”

Jongin tilted his head in question.

“I’m saving money to leave to a city somewhere.”

“And dance,” Jongin continued. This part, he knew. From how Taemin danced, he understood.

Taemin danced to be watched. Taemin deserved to be watched.

“Yeah.”

Taemin drew close and kissed Jongin again.

Jongin drew closer and kissed back.

Their skin met then, touched and friction sparked. It was cold today, but Taemin’s kisses were warm and Taemin’s skin was warm. Taemin was warm.

“Come with me?” Taemin asked.

“I want to,” Jongin blurted out the truth with a soft quiver.

Taemin planted a kiss on his nose and led him to the bed to push him down. His kisses grew fiercer and more desperate somehow, as if he knew of Jongin’s unspoken but I can’t.

Jongin followed each and every kiss, taking in as much of Taemin’s warmth while he still could. He followed as Taemin’s hands roamed his body as if it should belong to him.

“Are you sure--”

Jongin hushed Taemin with another kiss. And another, and another, each deeper than the last. He pulled Taemin closer to him.

He had been selfish and took all of Taemin’s warmth for himself.

The least he could do was give as much of his body to Taemin.

Even if those legs didn’t belong to him.

Even if they wouldn’t last.

Even if this wouldn’t last.

 

 

“Jongin--Jongin!”

He was awoken by Taemin’s voice.

_He was awoken by Taemin’s voice._

Shit.

He must’ve fallen asleep earlier. What time was it? How --

His thought was cut short by a feeling of overwhelming dryness. Every other sensation he had felt before. The burning sensation in his chest. The headache. The knots in his stomach. The loss of his vision.

“Water,” he managed to say, although his voice sounded nothing like his own. “Sea water.”

Taemin said something, but he didn’t catch it before the world went black again.

 

 

When he woke up, he was in the copper bathtub he’d seen several times in Taemin’s small bathroom His heart had calmed down, his head in much less pain.

His eyesight returned, and the first thing he saw was Taemin.

“I’m sorry I worried you,” Jongin said. His voice still didn’t quite sound like how he remembered and it still hurt a little, but at least he was able to speak.

“You weirdo,” Taemin said. He sounded tired, but still, he smiled. “You’re okay now?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. I stole salt from the kitchen for this. God, Kibum would be so mad.”

Jongin laughed weakly. “Sorry your landlord might be out for your head.”

Taemin laughed along.

A small silence took over them right after. Jongin noticed he had his tail now, although his amulet was still around his neck. He wasn’t sure what to say to Taemin. It wasn’t as if the situation wasn’t already abundantly clear.

“So,” Taemin started, then paused. “This is your story, then.”

Jongin nodded.

“How do you get legs?” Taemin asked. “Did you make a deal with an evil sea-witch or something?”

Jongin snorted. He had heard Taemin told him this story before, a fairytale about merpeople told among humans. He had found it silly then an he found it silly now. He held up his amulet.

“Inheritance from my mother,” he said. “I’m not sure where she found something like this from, but it lets me turn human for a limited amount of time.”

“Then punish you for not going back in time, huh?”

“Something like that.”

Again, silence overtook them. Taemin seemed to be lost in thought. Jongin didn’t blame him. If their roles were exchanged, he was sure he would be as lost as Taemin was.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“What for?”

“Not being honest.”

Taemin shrugged. “It’s just this, isn’t it?”

Jongin tilted his head in confusion. Taemin grinned.

“See, that’s still the same.”

Taemin took Jongin’s hand in his.

“And this still feels the same.”

He then climbed into the bathtub, surprising Jongin. Before Jongin could say anything, Taemin kissed him. Soft like their first kiss, chaste and graceful. Hard next, deep like the kiss they shared earlier in bed, a passionate mess.

“And these,” he said, he kissed again. “are all the same.”

Jongin nodded, although he wasn’t sure how to respond exactly. He loved Taemin’s kisses the same, too. He loved Taemin’s skin against his the same, too.

“Do you still want to come with me?”

“I can’t. I--”

“Do you still want to come with me?”

“Yes.”

Taemin kissed his nose.

“You didn’t lie, Jongin,” he said. “Well, not much, anyway.”

Jongin’s heartbeat increased, his body felt warm on its own for once, his head a little dizzy.

Yet it was different.

This time, each of them pointed to Taemin.

He put his arms around Taemin and kissed him, again and again and again and again until their breath was one.

 

 

The next time they met, it was at a corner by the beach.

“Wow,” Taemin said, breathless, when he arrived to see Jongin sitting in shallow water with his tail resting around him.

“Wow?” Jongin said, raising an eyebrow. “You’ve seen this before.”

“Well, I wasn’t really concentrating then.” Taemin rolled his eyes. “You were hurt. And besides.” He eyed Jongin up and down. “It looks even better at sea.”

“I thought you don’t like the sea,” Jongin teased.

Taemin walked over, barefoot, not caring his trousers got wet. He sat on shallow water with Jongin and placed his hand on his tail. He kissed Jongin on the nose again.

“Well, I like you.”

 

 

“I heard you revealed yourself to a human.”

Sehun’s next angry appearance a week later made Jongin wonder how exactly was Sehun so updated with his movements, but he chose not to question it.

“It’s just him.”

“Still--”

“It’s just for now,” Jongin assured. “He’s leaving soon enough.”

At this, Sehun was silenced. His face was drawn with worry.

“Are you going to be okay?”

Jongin closed his eyes. He had accepted it, really.

Taemin was too great to be contained by the suffocating blue of the sea and everything that belonged in it. Still, Jongin was selfish and continued wanting Taemin.

“I’ll be okay,” he said.

A half-lie at best.

 

 

Storms after storms passed, kisses after kisses exchanged, fingers entwined, bodies held close as they danced.

They talked and laughed and kissed and held hands and fucked at times.

It could last forever, Jongin felt.

But it shouldn’t, he knew.

 

 

He loved Taemin, he thought.

And he didn’t want to let go of that.

 

 

“I’m so proud of you!”

Jonghyun, a regular at the bar, cried loudly with his arm slung over Taemin. He was drunk, judging from the colour of his face, but he also had a good reason for crying.

A staff member from a dance company who happened to be at the bar just offered Taemin a job with their troupe, a rather well-known company based in the capital. Taemin had been suspicious at first, but when an official letter arrived for him, complete with fancy-looking wax seal and letterhead, there was no reason to doubt anymore.

Jongin stood in a corner and watched the celebration. Kibum brought out fine meals and fine ale, and the bar’s customers took turns to congratulate Taemin.

Jongin caught Taemin’s eyes on him: worried, hesitant, unsure.

 

 

Taemin loved him, Jongin knew then.

Taemin didn’t want to let go.

But.

 

 

“You should go,” Jongin said the next day by the beach.

“How do you--”

Jongin smiled. He copied Taemin’s smile the first time, except now, it was him as he was. Tail and scales and all.

Taemin sat in the water with him and held his hand.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

And Jongin kissed Taemin’s nose.

“What for?” Jongin asked.

 

 

If he, too, could escape the suffocating blue of the sea, he would.

 

 

“You should come home,” Sehun said.

This time, he had nothing to tell Jongin regarding activity on land. Jongin hadn’t been around as much, anyway, preferring to loot the ships that sunk under the sea when he had to find supplies. It felt easier that way, somehow.

It was easier to not think of Taemin that way, somehow.

“I’m happy here,” Jongin said.

A half-truth, because he still rather not forget.

He still didn’t want to let go.

 

 

This was the worst storm Jongin had seen in a few years now: truly something else, considering the sea he lived in. He stayed secure in his cave, resting on the bed he had looted a very long time ago.

Bed. He didn’t know it was called that when he had first looted it.

Now it was hard to imagine resting without it.

Funny how things changed.

 

 

He checked his supplies box after the storm. He had enough, but he could always do with more.

He thought of checking the usual areas for sunken ships, but a storm like this could mean a couple of things were swept away on land.

Land, he thought, he wondered, he remembered. He hadn’t been on land for a very long time.

Maybe it’s time to answer its calls now that the storm was gone.

 

 

When he put on his amulet as he arrived, his body felt heavy. He had never forgotten this. When his feet appeared to touch the rocks beneath the shallow water, he remembered how to walk well enough.

There had been a fishing boat stranded on the beach he was all too familiar with. A different fishing boat, for in ten years, boats changed, and this one looked a lot different from the one he had met Taemin in.

Jongin slipped on the shirt and trousers, a wet mess on him before proceeding to walk to the boat.

It was with the sound of seagulls, the sound of the air, the sound of his feet on sand did he hear that voice:

 

 

“I knew you’d be here.”


End file.
